Going to Managua..

Managua Travel Blog

So it was time to leave the island, it is a sad thing when time runs out, and you wish you`d just had a few more days to relax and enjoy it a little more…well next time ! Obviously the buses from Playa Santa Domingo to Moyagalpa were so far apart that we didn’t even get time for a little swim , just had to jump on the first one at 09.00. And this bus was as annoying as they possibly can get… driving in 30km/h , making major detours, and stopping every 50 meter to pick up people along the road. When the 30 minute distance took 2 hours I could feel myself getting mighty impatient.!

So it took us the better part of the day just to get to Managua, but when we got there I obviously wanted to go explore a little bit, like I do in all new places.

Torunn on boat

We did go to one of the Lonely planet recommended hostels in the district where all the recommended hostels where, which was obviously a very dangerous district….why are you doing this to me LP?

Our hostel had all sorts of rules, like we cannot leave the hostel and turn right -danger ! ,and we would be better of not turning left too !. Don`t even think about going to an ATM without protective detail !

Great , we were in an unsafe place, and it was getting dark. Undeterred we went out and found a pub to have one of those amazing one litre beer bottles, after that we felt much better!

We wanted to see the “downtown” area ,cause every city has a downtown right? Specially a capital !

Well we asked the taxi driver to take us downtown to this city mall which was right by the Hilton.

sunset in Managua center

So we were in the “downtown” area, but it just looked like the rest of the city - an endless array of 4 lane motorways in all directions, filled with honking cars, and the beautiful smoggy air. This is true for every corner of this city I have seen , we couldn’t even find something as simple as a pedestrian street. Yes, I know that they may exist in the old town district, but that is a dangerous place that you should taxi your way across according to the Great book.

So I think Managua beats San Josè as worst capital I have been to, San josè at least had some decent pedestrian streets.

We wanted to have a proper dinner, as it would be our last together before Torunn left, so we went to a Lonely Planet approved restaurant called “Hora del taco”, where they were serving taco(surprise.

Early morning Managua!

.).

The meal was good and cheap, and the drinks where large, but we both got stomach problems afterwards…

The morning after we got up at 4:00, and went out in the unsafe streets to find a taxi…we could`nt find one at first ,and got desperate enough to take the first one that came by. He wanted 10 $ , which is about twice the advised fare, but we didn’t have much choice. That was the worst wreck of a taxi I’ve ever seen. My door didn’t close or open, the window was stuck all the way down , come rain or storm the window shall stay !

I saw that none of his gauges worked, nothing. And some times he stopped the car, and then he had to get out of the car, and push it down the street, and jump in to push the clutch in the right moment.

He even told us to take the luggage out of the truck to put it between our seat, as his car couldn’t handle the 12 kg backpack in the trunk for some reason !

Amazingly we got to the airport, and Torunn caught her flight back to London…and I was alone.